bigolob

Latest posts by bigolob

Show them to your children and tell them that they must NEVER touch or eat anything like them or any other plant which they do not know. Always have them ask you before touching any strange plant. This includes Mushrooms of all varieties.

As a retired Medic take my advice and dig them up with plenty of soil where they are growing and put them in the dustbin as soon as possible. Poisonous plants are just that, POISONOUS and a threat to life, especially young children.

It is nonsence to suggest that toxic plants should be allowed to grow in any form of garden even if they are in the `Natural World`. The same goes for 10 foot pet snakes - look what happened to those two young brothers a couple of days ago!

Don`t worry about the green stripe on the leaf, the leaf otherwise is very healthy. I have a large collection of Moth Orchids and leaf discolouration is common with toio much sunlight or too little light.

We have seen them in the West Indes growing without any form of soil, just tied to a post with string and flowering like you have never seen. They are in the Carribean sun at 90F (30C) every day of the year so they are not totally averse to sun and heat. Don`t worry about the cut off shoot as this can be further cut if you want down to just above the leaf. Wipe the leaf with the white spots with a damp cloth and they may come off. Again, it could be sun burn - no problem as new leaved will grow and the old leaf can then be removed

Steve has the right answer. However, there are garden firms who `mash up` the stump and roots leaving good clear ground and soil behind. You could always add some new soil from a garden centre or soil delivery company.

We have a reasonable collection of Penstemon mainly by taking cutting from our own plants and other gardeners plants over they past 4-5 years. As we know, as beautiful as they are Penstemon are only partly hardy and a heavy winter as 2010 can wipe out much of the collection.

After the effects of that winter, I now take cutting in August of 2-3 of each variety (as a precaution) and when rooted, I transplant into 4 inch pots in October. They are overwintered in our heated conservatory (exept on mild days in November to late February in the cold GH as not to allow them to grow `leggy`).

They are then potted into 5 inch pots until mid May when they are planted in their bedding positions where they flower from mid to late July onwards. My problem is that I finish up with a larger number of plants of similar varieties.

My question is, how do you protect the plants in the beds incase we do have a severe winter coming up? Do you cover the roots with bark chippings or other means?

If you are going to turf the new lawn work can start NOW (early August). Clear the old grass, either kill it off with weed killer (Weedol or Glyphosphate) which will not harm the soil or hire a lawn stripper to take the turf off.

Before ordering the soil have the supplier work out how much you need to raise the lawn to whatever hight you want. Make sure that the new soil is ACID not Chalk for the best results. After the turf has been removed spread the new soil on to the old soil (DO NOT dig or rotavate the surface) as this will make a flat lawn more difficult to achieve. When you have raked the new surface tread by pressing your heels in to the whole surface and then rake again to make it flat as you can. Apply a dressing of Bonemeal to the soil to incourage root growth of the new turf.

Leave the soil for 1 month to settle and then tread and rake again - this can be done twice more leaving 2 weeks each time for it to settle again over the next weeks until the surface is without humps and hollows. By now it will probably be October or November, the ideal time for turf laying - the winter rain prevents the need to expensively water the new turf until spring next year. It is a slow process but the end result should be excellent. One important point is to buy the best turf for your purpose so again, ask advice on turf quality and price. Make sure you do not have Annual Meadow Grass in the turf as it is impossible to get rid of - I know from my own experience!

I have seen all this at my golf club many times and the finish is beautiful. Good luck.